


My Miraculous AU’s

by AboutTheMountains



Series: The Miraculous Universes [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AU, Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Bonus Powers AU, Butterfly!Marinette, Changed Motives AU, Corruption AU, Fox!Nino, Guardian AU, Lady Beetle - Freeform, Lady Moth au, Ladybug!Alya, Le Paon - Freeform, Le Renard - Freeform, Mariaile, Mariaile AU, Marinette is the true ladybug holder, Master Fu makes a lot of mistakes, Miraculous Ladybug AU, Miraculously Normal Au, Some of these have identity reveals, Sorry Fu, Terrapin, The rest of the class comes and goes in these, Turtle!Chloé, Veste Juane, aka Give Adrien Agreste Positive Adult Figures 2k20, bee!Adrien, cat!Marinette, different school au, kitty noire, kwami swap au, number au, run away au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:14:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 15,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27592565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AboutTheMountains/pseuds/AboutTheMountains
Summary: A collection of random AU’s I come up with about our crazy kids.First Chapter: Miraculously Normal AU (Marinette is the true Ladybug holder, but she never get’s a miraculous. This doesn’t mean she can’t save the day.)Second and Third Chapters: Kwami Swap AU (Marinette gave the earrings to Alya, but Master Fu was like “lol nope” and gave her another miraculous)Fifth, Sixth, Seventh Chapters: Different School AU (Adrien is sent to private school, so everything’s different. There’s a whole new dynamic to the friend groups.)***These are also posted on tumblr***
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: The Miraculous Universes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2069919
Comments: 33
Kudos: 128





	1. Miraculously Normal AU

Chat Noir, Rena Rouge, Carapace, and Queen Bee are the heroes of Paris. Ever since the first akuma, they were on the scene to take down the bad guy. Unfortunately for them, they had no hero to clean up their messes after attacks. Fortunately, the universe knew what it had to do, and gave the true ladybug wielder the powers of the miraculous. 

Marinette Dupain-Cheng didn’t mean to get involved. She was just naturally creative and smart. She was also kindhearted and head-strong. These traits led her to trouble, but luckily for Paris’s heroes, she was able to fix it most of the time.

The first time Marinette saved the hero’s, Stoneheart had just captured Mylene. Marinette was on the scene, and told Chat Noir how he could take down the akuma. The hero thought nothing of it- it was just a smart citizen.

But then it kept happening. 

Mr. Pigeon, Stormy Weather, Timebreaker, The Pharaoh, The Evillustrator, Rogercop, Dark Cupid, Horrificator, Darkblade, The Mime, Princess Fragrance, Animan- all of the akumas. 

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was attracted to danger, it seems. Her kindheartedness and head-strong personality were too powerful, and she helped the heroes in anyway she could. 

At first, it was just that- helping. But then the fights got continually dangerous. After a very dangerous battle, the Eiffel Tower was destroyed, and with it, many buildings. Marinette stood on her balcony and stared at the destruction in horror. The one time she didn’t help the heroes, and the Eiffel Tower collapsed. She was so upset that she didn’t see the dark purple butterfly flying towards her until it was almost on her. When she finally saw it, she promptly freaked out and did the only thing she could think of:

She caught it in her fist.

At first she just stared at her fist in confusion, but when she opened it, she became shocked.

The butterfly was white. 

Now, since there is no Ladybug in this universe, Chat Noir always used cataclysm on them, so nobody actually knows what a purified butterfly looks like. 

Marinette stared at the white butterfly in awe. Then she whispered, “that’s miraculous,” and stood back in shock as huge beams of light and ladybugs burst out of her hands and washed over the entire city. When the ladybugs disappeared, the city was repaired. The Eiffel Tower was restored, the city was whole, people’s injuries went away. It was as if everything that had happened in the last few months had never happened.

(Somewhere in Paris, a very confused Master Fu rushed to the miracle box and was both anxious and relieved to see the ladybug earrings still there.)

(Somewhere else, Adrien, Alya, Nino, and Chloe were even more confused and equally alarmed at the sudden fixes to the city.)

(Hawkmoth screamed as he realized the ladybug miraculous did actually exist, and he grew an evil grin as he thought that the miraculous was currently in use. He was very wrong.)

Marinette was, understandably, freaking out as she just realized that she repaired the entire city. She spent twenty minutes pacing her balcony before going into her room and stress designing for a few hours. Her parents found her passed out at her desk that night. 

The next akuma attack sees Marinette helping the heroes, but this time at the end, Marinette rushes home to see if she could fix everything again. She opened her palm to the sky and waited. Nothing happened. She thought happy thoughts. Nothing happened. She wished for Paris to be fixed. Nothing happened. 

She thought back on that day and tried to do everything again. She was about to give up, when she shouted to the sky, “THIS IS RIDICULOUS! WHY CAN’T I REPAIR EVERYTHING AGAIN? WHY CAN’T THAT STUPID MIRACULOUS BUTTERFLY COME BACK?” and suddenly, ladybugs flew out and fixed everything. Now Marinette was confused. What had she done this time?

After the next akuma attack, she tries again. This time, she talks to her palm, “umm, can you come back ladybugs?” And nothing happens. She tries again. “Miraculous ladybugs?” This yielded results. She finally figured out what the three events had in common: the word “miraculous.” 

Chat Noir, Rena Rouge, Carapace, and Queen Bee were used to Marinette’s interference at this point, so the next akuma attack seemed just like any other. Only this time, before any of the heroes left the scene, Marinette said, “Miraculous Ladybug,” and ladybugs rushed out to clean up the city. 

The heroes stood there shocked.


	2. Kwami Swap AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Are kwami swaps popular? Yes. Is that going to stop me? No.

Fu gave Marinette the ladybug miraculous as planned, but Chloe stole it out of her purse. Instead of opening it, though, she plants it in Alya’s locker to frame Marinette and get the new girl on her side. Of course, Chloe doesn’t have the best reputation, and it just succeeds in setting Alya against her. (“Oh no, Dupain-Cheng stole my box and tried to frame Alya! Whatever will we do?” “Chloe I literally watched you put it in her locker.” “Shut up Alix.”) 

Since Marinette had never seen the box before, she doesn’t think it’s hers, so she’s okay with Chloe taking it back. However, Chloe thinks it’s Marinette’s, and therefore it’s “gross” because it’s probably something “poor people have.” 

So Alya gets to keep the LB miraculous. She opens the box at home, and lo-and-behold, Tikki comes flying out expecting a scared pigtailed girl, and instead is shown an awed superhero fanatic. This was DEFINITELY not meant for her, but it’s too late now. Alya has always loved superheroes. She is immediately attached, and decides to be called “Lady Beetle” before the first fight even happens (she’s been prepared for this day her entire life, of course she’s going to give herself a name right away).

After “Stoneheart,” when Lady Beetle and Chat Noir defeat the amok, Adrien has the Cat miraculous but it doesn’t feel right with him, and he gets nervous about his father finding out, so he gives up his only freedom and gives the miraculous to Mari because he saw her stand up to Chloe, and he thinks she’s strong enough for it. (Adrien would love to use the miraculous to be free, but he can’t risk his father finding out he’s been sneaking away from photoshoots or school)

Marinette now has the Cat Miraculous (honestly her and Plagg never should have been connected in any way because now there is going to be chaos). So she’s unsure at first, but after a new amok threatens her parents, she’s like “ok screw it I’ve gotta save them,” and turns into Kitty Noire. Since Mari was originally supposed to get the LB miraculous, she’s still in charge. (Later, Plagg takes her to Master Fu, who is panicking because these two are NOT who he gave the miraculi to. She becomes the only one who communicates with Master Fu after he calms down. )

So Adrien is without a Miraculous, but don’t worry, Fu thinks about it and gives him the bee, and he becomes Veste Jaune (aka yellow jacket, but his outfit is mostly black leather, to resemble the Chat Noir outfit). Since he isn’t one of the main heroes, he tells the two girls that his personal life is very busy, and they let him skip patrols as long as he comes to most of the amok battles. Since he has more leeway, he keeps the bee miraculous and joins the two whenever he’s not super busy. 

Now since this is a Kwami switch, we have to give Gabriel the peacock miraculous, and say the butterfly was damaged. So Gabe has the peacock, meaning he “akumatizes” objects instead of people. The objects must have some sort of sentimental value when akumatized. So he does it when he has free time, and not when people feel strong emotions (just because he never leaves his house does not mean he has more free time. In between running his own company and trying to keep his wife’s sanctuary clean, he doesn’t have much time to akumatize anyone). Ivan just happens to get angry when Hawkie (now named Le Paon) akumatizes the paper in his hand because it’s a love letter, and therefore has sentimental value. 

The Ladyblog is actually run by Chloe (who thinks that Kitty Noire is her best friend thanks to Kitty saving her), and edited by Sabrina (of course Chloe wasn’t going to do all the work, who do you think she is??). 

Nino, of course is going to be a temporary hero, but has the fox miraculous as Le Renard. Chloe gets a redemption, but doesn’t get a miraculous until she steals one (ok it was a small redemption, but at least they let her keep it) from Marinette’s purse. It was the turtle, originally meant for Nino, but stollen, so Nino got the fox instead. Chloe doesn’t reveal herself, though, because she has gotten a little better (this is where the redemption comes in... see? Even Chloe isn’t that bad). So now Chloe is Terrapin, and she slowly learns to protect instead of attack. In her civilian life, she isn’t sure why she’s mother henning Mari and Adrien, but suddenly she’s overprotective of them. Sabrina and Adrien love it. Mari is suspicious.

So since Marinette gave Alya her miraculous, Mari knows who Lady Beetle is. Adrien explained the cat miraculous to Mari, and she gave him the bee instead, so Mari and Adrien know who each other are (Tikki isn’t there to tell Mari is has to be a secret, so why should it? Plagg causes chaos, after all). Mari also gave Nino the fox, and she doesn’t know who the turtle is, but after using context clues and her own eyes, she figures out that Chloe is Terrapin. So yeah, Mari knows who everyone is, but only Adrien knows who Kitty Noire is. 

Fu decides on his own merits to give guardianship over to Mari because he believes Marinette would be a better guardian than he is (he’s old, and he has been teaching her the ways of the guardian since the beginning). So Mari gets the Miracle Box, and Fu leaves town to live with Marianne. He isn’t rushed for time, so they figure out how to switch guardianship without Fu loosing his memory.

Natalie is nicer in this, and she is unaware of Gabriel being Le Paon, so she doesn’t use the broken butterfly miraculous. She sorta takes Adrien under her wing, and lets him spend more time with his friends. Since she’s around him more, she finds out that he’s Veste Jaune, but tells him she’ll keep it a secret. Now that she knows, she is more lenient when he skips out on events and leaves during amok attacks. 

Because the team is much more in-tune to each other, they dont give out many miraculi. Nino gets to keep his full time after Marinette becomes guardian, so now they’re all full-time heroes. After Nino and Alya let slip that they know each other’s identities, Mari lets everyone reveal themselves. When they realize Mari isn’t surprised by anyone, she says she knew who everyone was already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Literally I have so many thoughts about this. I made a second part but I’ll add it later because this can be a stand alone. I have an addiction to this AU. Somebody stop me.


	3. Kwami Swap AU Pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second addition to the Kwami Swap AU. I had to add more because I had a lot of ideas.

Alright so I’d imagine that the gum scene never happened because instead of planting gum on Marinette’s seat, Chloe steals the miraculous box from her. Ergo, no Adrien to try and clean it up. Instead, Mari waves and introduces herself, but that’s as far as their interaction goes. After Nino become’s Adrien’s friend, and Mari and Alya become “besties,” they start a little friend group with no love squares other than Nino’s tiny crush on Mari. 

After Stoneheart, Adrien gives the miraculous to Mari because he saw how feisty and headstrong she is, so he tells her all about the miraculous (Plagg is watching this interaction from his place on the table in between them while eating a ton of cheese because what else is he supposed to do? Help? Ew.). Mari takes the ring hesitantly because she still doesn’t think she’s a hero, but Adrien talks her into keeping it. She takes it, but has no intention of using it.

Well, unfortunately for her, it’s now Adrien’s birthday and Nino is bitter, and therefore, his therapy bubbles are sentimental enough for Le Paon to target them. So Nino’s bubbles turn into a sentimonster, and suddenly all the adults are floating into the air. Mari’s parents included. She’s like “I wasn’t planning on doing this, but I guess I don’t really have a choice now,” so she transforms, and heads to the Agreste mansion, and finds the sentimonster holding everyone hostage. (Nino wasn’t under any influence of an akuma this time, but he’s still like “all the adults are gone and Adrien’s here, so let’s make the most of this situation” and throws a party.) 

This was Mari’s first time traveling via magic metal pole, so she’s slow to arrive, but by the time she’s there, the kids are all slow dancing, and Lady Beetle is scoping out the area from a nearby roof. So she stumbles down next to the spotted bug, and she’s like “hi, I’m new. What’s the plan?” Because she’s a realist and all that. Lady Beetle is confused as to who this new person is, but she’s also like “two of my new friends are down there being held captive,” so she just shrugs her shoulders and tells the new hero she doesn’t have a plan yet. 

Now, Marinette was originally the holder of the ladybug miraculous, which means she needs to be creative and quick. Therefore, she takes one look at the scene below, and goes “alright, here’s my plan.” Lady Beetle follows along because this is better than nothing.

Only, the plan works in record time. After purifying the Amok, Lady Beetle is like “you’re amazing, what is your name so I can accurately dream and rant about you to my new best friend,” and Mari is overwhelmed with the praise, plus all her classmates are staring at her, plus Adrien looks starstruck and also proud?? So she’s like “Kitty Noire” and then zooms away on the baton, leaving everyone to watch her leave in awe. 

She gets back to her room and squeals because she didn’t fail, and Plagg is like “that’s great now give me camembert.”

Because she’s not a stumbling, stuttering mess, Mari has Adrien’s phone number, so she texts him to let him know she’s breaking into his house whether his dad approves or not. She takes the scarf, and goes over to the Agreste Mansion (as Kitty Noire, of course), where Adrien is waiting with his window open. He literally tackles her in a hug when she drops in and he says “I knew you’d make a great hero” because he’s sappy and all that. Mari’s a bit stuck between blushing and shoving him off, so she settles on pushing the wrapped scarf into his chest. He opens it, lights up, and immediately puts it on, declaring it the best thing since sliced bread, and stating that he’s never taking it off again. Plagg interrupts (don’t think I forgot about him), and goes “you mean best thing since camembert,” and the two sign because _way to ruin the moment you tiny cheese addict._

Bonus: Natalie freaks out about Adrien’s birthday present, and gives him the closest thing to her: a cup of coffee. Adrien is like “umm, yes” because he underestimated public school, and is losing so much sleep because _homework._

Bonus bonus: When Mari gets home, it’s to 36 new texts from Alya about the new cat hero. She can’t stop blushing the entire night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually changed some things on this one that I didn’t change of tumblr, but it’s fine. 
> 
> Me: Nobody’s gonna know  
> Also Me: They’re gonna know


	4. Lady Moth AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically what if Mama Agreste had the butterfly broach instead of Gabriel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is pretty short, but I can expand on it anyone wants.

Lady Moth AU

Instead of Emilie going into a coma, it’s Gabriel. Emilie doesn’t want to be evil, but she needs the miraculous because as far as she knows, there’s no other way. So she sends out akumas to gain the heroes attention. The akumas don’t hurt or cause any damage, they just inconvenience people. She also doesn’t just use negative emotions. She just uses anyone feeling strongly, whether it’s anger, love, happiness, sadness, longing, excitement, whatever. So these akumas gain the attention of our heroes, but instead of fighting them, they just talk to them. Ladybug and Chat talk, but they never agree with Lady Moth, so she recalls the akuma and tries again and again. Finally, Marinette goes to Master Fu and talks to him about it, and he says that there’s no way to heal someone in a magical coma without the miraculous grimoire. At the next akuma meeting, LB presents this to Lady Moth, who admits she had the grimoire. She gives it up, and Mari uses it to make a spell to heal Gabriel. Since she hasn’t done anything wrong, Emilie keeps the miraculous and uses it to help people feeling strong negative emotions. Whenever she “akumatizes” someone, she uses her cane to contact the two heroes, who then meet with the person, and help them with their problems. 

Overall, Mama Agreste is superior and if she had the Butterfly miraculous I believe her problems would have been solved much sooner. 

Bonus: Even though Gabe is the fashion model, I can 100% guarantee that the akumas would look better


	5. Different School AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if Gabriel sent Adrien to a private school? Let’s just pretend I know how French schools work.

Ok listen. 

Gabriel sucks, right? We been knew. He didn’t want Adrien to go to school. Then Adrien runs away, blah blah blah. Fine. Let the boy go to school. 

Now here’s the thing. Gabriel needs Adrien to uphold the prim and proper Agreste title. Adrien was trying to go to a public school. Public school isn’t good enough. Even though Chloe goes there does NOT mean it’s good enough for Gabe. 

So Adrien is sent to private school. More specifically, Kagami’s school. 

Now, things still happen, but not the same as in the show. Master Fu still gives out the ladybug and cat miraculous, so we still have our Ladybug and Chat Noir. Only, the villains are mostly different. For starters, Gabe keeps an eye on his son. So the new private school is Hawkmoth’s new playground. 

A few things don’t happen because Adrien is gone. For starters, Marinette doesn’t have a crush on him, so she can’t do a lot of embarrassing things, and therefore a lot of akumas don’t happen. Second, Chloe can’t push and shove her way to get in Adrien’s sight, so some more akumas don’t happen. Simple akumas like bubbler don’t happen because Nino doesn’t know Adrien in this universe. 

Yet. 

No matter what happens, it’s fate that the ladybug and cat miraculous wielders know each other in and out of the mask. So Adrien has a photo shoot in the park, and Marinette just happens to be there sketching in her sketchbook. Let’s just say that Gabe really should have checked the weather because surprise surprise, it starts raining. Adrien notices this girl who is just sitting on a bench completely submitting to the rain while she stares at the sky as if it betrayed her. Adrien’s friend radar is dinging because she’s lonely looking and he needs a friend right about now. So guess what happens. 

The umbrella scene. 

Of course, Mari knows she probably won’t see him again, so she doesn’t completely obsess over him because he’s just a celebrity, why would he think twice about this random girl who was too dumb to check the weather when she decided to go to the park. This doesn’t mean she doesn’t dream, but she doesn’t stalk him or put up thousands of pictures of him either. 

So they’ve met. Great. This still doesn’t mean they’re friends, so fate works it’s magic and makes them meet. How? A classic akuma. 

Evilustrator just wanted to go on a date with Marinette. Did that happen? No. 

This went pretty much the same as the episode, only Chat genuinely has no idea who Mari is. So he goes and shows off for this random civilian (he’s ignoring that little alarm in his head that he knows this girl, because he meets so many fangirls a day, how could he remember a specific one, right?) who acts totally nonchalant about the entire thing. Blah blah blah, Mari takes the pen, Mari saves the day, Chat realized this girl is way more than a random civilian and is definitely gonna fantasize about this girl later. (Wait, what?)

So yeah, now that Adrien knows where Mari lives (creepy, but necessary), he asks Gorilla to take him to the bakery. The next day, the same thing. And again. And again. The bodyguard should probably be concerned at this point, but he’s been working for the Agrestes for a while, and this is far from the craziest thing he’s ever seen (Gabriel’s goth faze will forever haunt the memories of everyone involved). Finally, he finds Mari the following Sunday afternoon, when she’s helping her parents with the bakery. He goes up and orders, but then he sticks around and initiates a conversation. Sabine and Tom take notice of this, and demand Marinette take a break and talk to this “nice young man.” 

So she does. 

They talk, realize they have a lot in common (who knew that they would both like Ultra Megastrike?), but they also have very different views on some things (while Mari loves fashion, Adrien just wants to get away from it). 

Life can’t pause forever, though, and Natalie calls Adrien demanding him back. Adrien grudgingly leaves, but he gets Mari’s number first. So now they’re friends (“good friends,” Adrien tells Plagg later). 

Here’s the thing, though. Since Adrien never came to François Dupont, he was never there to encourage Nino to confess to Mari at the zoo. He wasn’t there, so Nino, Alya, and Mari weren’t at the zoo. He wasn’t there, so Nino and Alya don’t get together.  
Boohoo. So Nino is pining silently over Mari, while Alya and Mari are living it up in the seat behind him. 

The only way to fix this is to have Mari take pity on poor Nino who sits alone, and invite him to lunch one day with her and Alya. They do it a few times, so now it’s the usual thing to do. They get used to it. So one day Mari isn’t at school because she was sick or something (there totally wasn’t an early morning akuma and she slept past her alarm, no way), so Alya and Nino sit together. Same thing as the episode, they hit it off and now guess who’s dating. 


	6. Different School AU Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A second part to the Different School AU

Ok so I think I stated this in the first part, but I need to explain it a bit. So the entire class except Adrien and Marinette were akumatized (sometimes more than once!) at some point, right? There is literally no explanation for this other than the show needing to target the main characters. Well guess what. This isn’t a show, it’s an AU, so I’m gonna give my own explanation. 

Every school ever, no matter when or where, has drama. Romance troubles, friendship problems, class bullies, petty fights, detentions, losing competitions, everything. Pretty much every school has this, right? Well then why was Bustier’s class seemingly targeted the most? Because Gabriel had an eye on his son.

Well congrats, Bustier, your class gets a break (for now), and Adrien’s newest class gets to have the center of attention. Since it’s a private school, things probably don’t get too out of hand, but that wont stop teenage emotions. Kid fails a test? Akuma. Somebody is tripped in the hallway? Akuma. Hawkie has proven that he will literally akumatize anyone (remember the baby? Yeah, I do). I doubt he would stop at a paper cut. 

Ok so nothing else important with Adrien happens in the Origins, but later on is where things start to change. Like I said in the first part, the universe needs Ladybug and Chat Noir to know each other in their civilian lives, but it says nothing about everyone else. Mari may be friends with Adrien, but that doesn’t mean anyone else in the class is. 

So it looks like we’re gonna have to change that.

Marinette makes plans to sneak Adrien out of his house under the guise of a “school project.” Nathalie doesn’t need to know that this mysterious “Marie Duplan” doesn’t go to his school, and also doesn’t exist. What Gabriel doesn’t know wont hurt him. 

For absolutely no reason, let’s say that Marinette invites Alya over, and Alya brings her new boyfriend. Adrien arrives, and is introduced to two whole new people! New friends! Nino and Alya are hesitant to befriend this rich popular guy because they remember he’s Chloe’s friend, but Mari reassures them that he’s actually very sweet and kind (Adrien totally isn’t tearing up at this, nope, no way). 

Thank you Adrien, now you have become the glue to hold the group together. Confused? Let me split this up for you:

Marinette and Nino have known each other since basically forever, but that doesn’t mean they were ever close. They never had a reason to hang out, and even when he’s dating Alya, he usually doesn’t join them outside of school. 

Alya is the new girl, but she has befriended Mari, and enchanted Nino. The only mystery on her radar is Adrien. Nino is obviously easily enchanted by people, and starts befriending Adrien, which leads to them hanging out more. 

Nino has a new girlfriend, and is starting to connect with a girl he’s only talked to on occasion, and look! Maybe they can add this dude to the group and actually have conversations _not about boys or superheroes_ (don’t get too far ahead of yourself, Nino). 

And Adrien just met Mari, but he’s fully willing to dive headfirst into this friendship because he has absolutely zero friendship experience and his new school is very formal and the only person who has sort-of befriended him is this girl on his fencing team but she’s also very bold and scary (hi Kagami). 

So Adrien coming into their little group gives Nino a reason to hang out with Marinette, which gives Alya a reason to hang with Adrien, which gives Mari a chance to talk with three new friends! 

Look at that its a win-win-win-win. 

Anyways I’ve obviously strayed from the original topic. Also I have a feeling that my explanation was more confusing than helpful. Oh well. C’est la vie. 

Adrien has now increased his friend count to 3 whole people! 4 if you count Plagg, which Adrien does not because Plagg is a _menace_. And does Chloe actually count? 

So one day they’re in class and Marinette mentions their plans with Adrien later that day. Chloe overhears, and tells Sabrina to add that to their plans that day because there is no way in hell she’s letting Adrien get corrupted by Dupain-Cheng. 

After school, Alya, Nino, and Marinette go to the park, where they meet up with Adrien. The four are there for all of thirty seconds before Chloe tackles Adrien. 

Cue Mari and Alya trying to pry Chloe off while Nino and Sabrina just sigh in the background. 

I’m not saying that Chloe joins their little group, but she does demand to join their little meets. And therefore by default, Sabrina joins too (although unlike Chloe, Sabrina is nice enough to slowly join their group). 

Adrien’s friend count just went up. 

Anyways, Sabrina and Marinette totally become friends because they’re both lovable people who give all of themselves to other people. During the Evillustrator attack, Mari is able to reschedule with Sabrina ahead of time because she’s friends with her, and they’re on good terms. So there’s no bad blood between them. Yayyy! Also I’m giving Sabrina confidence because that’s what you get from hanging with Mari, so she’s more bold and unafraid to call Chloe out. 

After Evillustrator, Marinette is able to talk to Nathaniel to let him down gently (even though her heart isn’t dead-set on Adrien, she still doesn’t have romantic feelings for Nathaniel). She invites him to the group’s next outing to make it up to him, and he agrees (though Mari plans on leaving Chloe out for this one. Sorry Sabrina, but it looks like you’re going to find something to distract her). 

So Nath comes to their outing, and he’s introduced to the group. He’s pretty quiet though so he mainly hangs back. He does bond with Nino over their love of the arts, though (because the arts include music, drawing, and writing). 

Next on the list is going to be Alix and Kim, I think. They’re having their race, but Marinette invites Adrien because why not. So Adrien is now there, which changes some things in this universe. (Yes I know he was there in the show, but it’s different here because the class doesn’t know him)

First off, since Sabrina gained a backbone, Chloe is just a little more humble. Not a lot, but enough. Also since she’s (mostly) included in the fun outings Mari and Adrien plan, she doesn’t feel the need to constantly in the spotlight. Dont get her wrong, she’d still love to have everyone’s attention all the time, but since hanging with the group, she’s had more attention than she’s used to. Well, positive attention. She has always gotten negative attention. 

Also I really need to find a name other than “the group.”

Anyways, back to the race. Alix gives the watch to Alya, who gives it to Mari, who gives it to Adrien, who does NOT give it to Chloe because if there’s anything he’s learned from hanging with the group, it’s that Chloe doesn’t always actually have the best intentions. Would you look at that, the watch never breaks, Alex never gets akumatized, crisis averted. Plus Marinette isn’t late for that delivery. (This also unfortunately means that Mari no longer has an alibi because Ladybug and her were no longer seen together, but in this AU, sacrifices have to be made)

Without the akuma, the class reacts to the race accordingly, and Kim pouts because he lost. Adrien doesn’t know this kid, but he does see someone sad, and that’s gonna raise some alarms in his head. So he goes up and comforts Kim. Chloe follows him like an overeager duckling with sunglasses, and Adrien convinces her to pat Kim on the back, which raises his spirits because for whatever reason Kim has a crush on her. Chloe turns around to hide her face when Adrien gives her a side hug in thanks (“see, there’s the Chloe I know and love”).

Adrien introduces himself to Kim, and guess who is invited to the next outing? (Marinette is over congratulating Alix and invites her to the next outing because they’re going rollerblading and obviously that’s Alix’s thing)

So one fun fact is that absolutely nobody can beat Marinette at video games, and except for Marinette, nobody can beat Max at video games. There’s no Adrien to lose to, so Max doesn’t get akumatized, and they both go to the tournament. Max is invited to join her and the group for a congratulations party. Adrien is a big nerd, and he immediately latches onto this kid and they gush about Ultimate Megastrike 3 together. 

Ok uhhh the class is now filming their movie. Adrien isn’t there to play the main role, so they have Kim doing it. Chloe isn’t trying to become the star because heck no she doesn’t want to kiss Kim (this is after Dark Cupid- which still happened because while Chloe wasn’t outright cruel about rejecting him, Kim’s feelings were still hurt, and as established earlier: Hawkmoth will akumatize literally anyone- which means that Kim doesn’t feel as strongly about Chloe as he once did). Everytime Chloe tries to say something mean about Mylene being a wimp, Sabrina is there to elbow her in the side because _confidence_. Mylene gets upset about being scared, but Ivan and Marinette are there to give her a confidence boost. In the end, they decide to edit in the monster after filming, and the problem is solved. No Horrificator. 

After the movie, Marinette plans on meeting Adrien in the park, and she decides to invite Mylene and Ivan because the more the merrier. Adrien is super enthusiastic to meet new people, and Mylene is immediately attached to this kind man. Surprise surprise, they’re invited to join the group on their next outing. They say yes. 

Hmmm so Chloe’s doing better, so I’m going to say that while she says no to giving Rose’s letter to Prince Ali, she doesn’t ruin it either. This leads to Sabrina taking the letter and promising to give it to the Prince instead, so Rose isn’t akumatized. Ummm we’re gonna say that Tikki was still sick, and Marinette still tripped, which means that now Chloe has Tikki, but when Mari called out to Chloe, she gave it back. Yeah idk I’m just trying to find a way that doesn’t result in an akuma because I’m not sure if the Prince would give it back or not. Who knows. 

Another akuma is avoided during class pictures when Juleka isn’t excluded because Chloe doesn’t care where she is. Adrien isn’t there to stand next to, so why would she. Marinette’s goal of getting Juleka in the picture succeeds, and then Mari invites her and Rose to picnic with her, Adrien, Alya, and Nino later to take more pictures, and they accept. So two more join the group. 

At this point the group may as well be called the “Getting To Know Adrien Group” because it’s all of Bustier’s class plus Adrien. But anyways. 

The last person to “join” the group is technically Chloe, but she may never officially join, so she’s just gonna casually saunter in and pretend like everyone owes her for her presence. 

Or if you want to get technical, Lila is the last person to join. Hmmmm maybe I’ll write more about this specific character later. I love character development, but honestly Lila works willingly with Hawkmoth, so I’m not sure how redeemable she actually is. But I guess that never happened in this AU because she’s not hanging off of Adrien’s arm. Maybe in this AU she tries to get in Marinette’s good graces instead. 

....I’ll have to continue that thought later. 

The main point of this is that Adrien gets friends, and he’s not seen as “just the love interest for Marinette” by the girls, so there’s no pressuring to do anything. That isn’t to say that Alya doesn’t ship them in her head, but she doesn’t constantly push Mari to confess, and Mari doesn’t obsess over everything Adrien does. We only have healthy relationships in this AU (I’m just gonna ignore the Gabriel sized hole in Adrien’s heart for now... We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it).


	7. Different School AU Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeah another one :) This one is part 3, aka “Lila’s a liar and she sucks but we need to add her because I’ve read way too many stories with her and in my mind she’s now pretty much a main character.”

@edeniz001 on tumblr commented “There's the fanon that Lila is an Adrien fangirl who chose to go to Dupont cuz Adrien is there. You could have this mean that in your au, Lila transfers to this new school of Adrien's. Should be fun, since Kagami is there & would cut the head of the snake early on, instead of letting her grow stronger. Kagami has the advantage of being able to ask her mother for helpful advice in such things, even if she's a harsh and strict taskmaster.”

Hmmm that’s interesting. So I’ll raise you this: Lila transfers to the private school, yes, but quickly learns that private school kids have WAY more braincells than public school kids, and none of them believe her lies. She realizes nobody likes her, and almost immediately her castle crumbles before it’s even built, and Adrien doesn’t trust her. Well time to go to the next best thing: the mayors daughter. And then once she’s there she’s like “oh the mayors daughter kinda sucks,” but it’s too late to switch because it took a while to convince her mom this was a better school and she has to wait at least a few days before switching again. 

But then she meets Marinette Dupain-Cheng. At first, she thought the girl was useless. She thought she was some poor baker’s daughter who was naive and easy to corrupt. But then her classmates started talking about all her connections. The girl apparently was on a first-name basis with multiple celebrities, including Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, and Nadja Chamack. Also, the bakery she lived at was apparently not an ordinary bakery. Her parents were not only the owners, but also the founders of the most popular bakery in Paris. She also apparently was best friends with Adrien Agreste, and Alya Cesaire, the owner of the most popular blog in Paris. Her classmates also had a rumor floating around that she knew how to contact Ladybug and Chat Noir (she wasn’t sure how true that one was, though. The girl was never scene during the attacks). 

So anyways.

Lila comes to some conclusions, which are:  
1\. Marinette Dupain-Cheng may not be super famous, but she has famous connections, and those can make someone else famous (namely Lila), and  
2\. Lila needed to befriend Marinette Dupain-Cheng before this one ran away from her. 

And of course, in this AU there’s proper communication, so Marinette already knows from Adrien that Lila is a super liar, but she doesn’t want to embarrass the girl, so she lets it go. At first, it seems like Lila was tryin to befriend Chloe, but as anybody could guess, that didn’t end very well. Then all of a sudden, Lila seemed to change targets and came for her instead! Instead of Lila hanging off of Adrien’s arm, she’s hanging off Mari’s. 

Marinette is too kind of a person, so she includes Lila in class events, and even goes as far to invite her to the group meetings the class + Adrien has outside of class. However, Marinette makes sure Lila does not mistake her kindness for innocence, and shuts down all the lies Lila made (she makes sure to be subtle about it, though). 

Since the class is now a well-oiled-machine, people don’t believe the liar over one of their closest friends, and _y’all_. So much drama is now gone. 

Anyways. Back to the main point. 

Lila is trying to become Mari’s best friend, but she’s not very subtle about it. If there’s one thing that’s similar to canon, it’s that Lila tries to isolate Marinette and separate her from her friends so that she can have Mari all to herself. Alya instantly notices this, and is offended and enraged that someone is trying to take Mari away from her (oh, and the rest of the class too, she guesses). 

So everything comes to a head when Lila is like “Mari you know how we’re such great friends? I was wondering if you could get us VIP passes for the Jagged Stone concert this weekend? I mean, if you’re already busy that’s fine, I can just go alone because Jagged is like, my idol, and I just have to meet him,” and Mari just looks like a deer in the headlights because she doesn’t know how to react to that, but luckily for her, Alya does. 

Alya: “Lila didn’t you say earlier Jagged wrote a song about you? Didn’t you save his kitten? If you’re really his honorary niece like you say, you can just ask him yourself!” 

And Lila tries to save herself, but it’s too late because the class just witnessed her using Marinette’s kindness for her own gain, and if there’s anybody who has been nice to everyone in the class without judgment, it’s Marinette. 

So yeah. 

I guess we can assume since Lila’s lies aren’t encouraged she now stops and tries to be friends with everyone? Or should I skip the character development and head straight for her working with hawkmoth? I dont know. 

I mean, with how her character is in the show, she’s pretty stubborn. So she probably would be mad that nobody believes her, and gets akumatized. And then after Ladybug and Chat Noir defeat her the entire class consoles her because they just assumed she was taken advantage of by the evil mothman even though she wasn’t, but Lila wont tell them that. So she’s like “I can use this to gain pity and people will do stuff for me,” and voila. Now she’s working with Hawkie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would anybody like it if I did a “what if” series? The AU’s would be “what if Gabriel has this miraculous instead.” 
> 
> So if he had the bee, what would happen? If he had the cat, what would change? 
> 
> Of course, most things would change, and I may even take more creative freedoms than normal to make it fit. 
> 
> I would make it another “story,” and make it part of a series with this one. There would only be 5 chapters for the ladybug, cat, fox, turtle, and bee. I’m not sure I’d do it until 2021 though. Or maybe I would. I usually write late at night so who knows.


	8. Mariaile AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> @Exilius commented “For AU maybe good, old, antagonist butterfly Marinette? It's have been a while since i have seen this particular AU.”
> 
> There’s gonna be more than one of this because I couldn’t decide on one singular plot :)

Ooooo ok that’s interesting. So we’re gonna take canon and politely shove it out of the way because this is not going to follow the story line AT ALL. 

Ok so first we’re gonna start with the fact that the butterfly miraculous is not with Gabriel Agreste. However, the peacock is because we cant change _everything_. So Gabriel is still evil, but he’s not Hawkmoth. Instead he’s Le Paon because I don’t feel like making up another name for him, and this is as good as it’s gonna get. 

Pretty much everything is the same to start, Marinette is the same scatter-brained girl, but this time, Master Fu gives her the butterfly to make champions, and Adrien the fox to make illusions. 

And here’s why:

The first time Gabriel Agreste transformed into Le Paon, Wayzz told Master Fu that the miraculous was being used with evil intent, and obviously with the goal of gaining ultimate power. 

So the obvious way to prevent Le Paon from ever achieving ultimate power is to prevent him from even getting near the only things that could ever grant such a wish: the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous. 

Master Fu is like “yes of course, we can send out literally any of the miraculous, not just the two most powerful.” 

And just like that, Marinette and Adrien find this strange box in front of them when Le Paon makes his first move. At first, Marinette is freaking out and very confused. Nooroo explains the point of champions. Marinette doesn’t need to go out herself, she can just do everything from the comfort of her own bedroom. She’s like “ok great.”

(Adrien is like “why illusions though?” To which Trixx replies “your partner makes other heroes that can all have different powers to confuse the enemy. You need to be able to cover for them. Therefore- you create illusions to trick the enemy further.”)

At first, Marinette as Mariaile (Mari for her name, aile meaning wing in French) was a good hero. She knew just who to choose for her heroes, and she guided them to defeating the amok quickly. Her partner, Le Filou, was helpful when distracting the amok’s. The two heroes met once a week on the Eiffel Tower to talk strategy since they couldn’t meet during the attacks. They were a good team. 

Everything’s normal until Lila Rossi comes to Paris. Since the Fox hero was so popular, she pretended to be the ladybug hero, Coccinelle. Since there’s no Hawkmoth, she was never akumatized, but I imagine she still tries to get in Adrien’s good graces. Since Mariaile hasn’t been seen publicly by anyone except Le Filou, Marinette can’t call Lila out. This doesn’t mean she has to like her, but at least Lila doesn’t have any hatred for the butterfly heroine. 

This also doesn’t mean she doesn’t try and ruin Marinette’s reputation. 

Things are different in this AU, so Paris isn’t being held hostage by an emotion manipulator, and Marinette has no fear of making Lila angry or sad. Unfortunately, Lila is Lila, and Marinette is Marinette, so she’s told to take the high road anyways to not upset the new girl. However, Marinette isn’t afraid to become akumatized. Therefore, she’s allowed to feel. 

And she feels betrayed and angry. 

So now you have Mariaile continuing to create champions, but every time she makes one, they become a little more violent every time. 

Le Filou has noticed, and he talks to Mariaile about it at their next meeting, but she just changes the subject. 

It all comes to a climax when one day there’s an amok and Marinette is so angry because Lila just ruined her commission sketch book and framed her for copying her own designs, and instead of creating a champion, she creates an akuma who is hell bent on destroying Lila Rossi, instead of the amok. 

Le Filou arrives at the scene to see the akuma heading towards a very scared Lila Rossi, while the amok is destroying a nearby building. He is very confused and _so overwhelmed_ because it’s just him and his only ally has apparently decided to change objectives. So he starts towards the amok, but Lila is screaming because the akuma- a girl with ice powers?- is hitting her with progressively bigger pieces of hail. So he goes towards the akuma and tries talking to Mariaile, but the akuma won’t answer him. 

Eventually, he manages to sidetrack the akuma with an illusion of Lila in the opposite direction and sends the akuma on a wild goose chase while he deals with the amok. Luckily for him, he defeats the amok before the illusion fades. Once it does, though, the akuma is _not happy_. Or at least Mariaile isn’t. 

So Le Filou recharges and then heads towards the frantic akuma who is flying up and down the streets in search of Lila. He goes and intercepts her and tries talking her down, and eventually gets the story out of her. It takes longer than he wants, but eventually Mariaile releases the akuma which reveals the poor teenage girl who happened to be the innocent victim of this evil akuma. 

That night, Le Filou goes to the Eiffel Tower and meets a pacing Mariaile who looks so angry but also so sad. The second they make eye contact she just bursts into tears because after releasing and purifying the akuma, she realized just what she’d done. 

I know this was going to be an evil Marinette AU but honestly I can’t find a reason for her to turn on the world unless it turned on her first, but even then she’s still a naturally positive, kind girl. So instead this is a “Marinette lets her emotions get the better of her, but her partner helps her realize that even though she’s been wronged, she shouldn’t let the darkness consume her.” 

(And also Adrien realizes that Mariaile’s situation is a lot like Marinette’s, and the next day he apologizes to Mari for not helping her with Lila, and they both gain an ally)


	9. Corruption AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Similar to the Mariaile AU, here’s some more butterfly!Marinette. 
> 
> What if the butterfly miraculous had a bad habit of taking negative emotions and amplifying them by like 100?

So same as the Mariaile AU until the Lila incident, and then all of a sudden the champions turn into akumas. 

Ok ok so we all know that the “transformation words” for the butterfly miraculous are “Dark Wings Rise,” right? Well what if the miraculous can be changed from good to evil with two different transformation words? Because it doesn’t make much sense for the miraculous to have such strange wording. So like the butterfly is “Dark Wings Rise,” but when used for good it’s “Metamorphosis?” Or the Ladybug is “Spots on,” until used negatively, and then it’s like “Create Chaos” or something (speaking of, I have another AU titled “Creating Chaos” that I’ll need to post soon). 

Anyways. My point being that one day Marinette is super upset, and she says “Dark Wings Rise,” and turns into the evil version of Mariaile (I’m gonna say that she didn’t think that through, and she had no idea what she was saying, so the transformation was more instinctual than intentional). 

The akuma goes out and wreaks havok, but this time Master Fu knows that the butterfly miraculous is being used with bad intent, and he’s like “great now I need to send more miraculous out,” so he gives out the turtle and the bee (which go to Nino and Aurore respectively because lets be honest, Alya is the Ladyblogger and Chloe is a disaster child, so neither would get a miraculous in this AU since Master Fu has no reason to trust them). So Le Filou, Carapace, and Amber defeat the akuma. At their weekly meeting, Mariaile never shows up, and Le Filou has no idea what happened to her. 

Like I said earlier, though, the butterfly miraculous is supposed to be used for good. However, it does amplify the feelings of the affected, and therefore Marinette’s own negative emotions are added to someone else’s and she looses all sense of right and wrong. The miraculous isn’t supposed to be used negatively, so when it is, the wielder is mentally affected, and their feelings are amplified. 

It’s not Marinette’s fault her feelings were tripled, but now that she has no control over them, the butterfly miraculous becomes a weapon of destruction instead of a tool to help. 

Mariaile keeps her name, but she’s basically the new Hawkmoth. She never intended to be, but the miraculous amplified her negative emotions, and now she’s using it without knowing that she’s become the enemy. 

In school, her classmates have realized that she seems more reserved and cold. At home, her parents can’t get her to talk to them. Nooroo is very upset that his chosen has been corrupted. He didn’t mean it, but the miraculous uses _emotions_ , and having so many shoved on one person is too much for them to handle alone. 

So Mari is isolated by Lila, but this time she isn’t stopped. It’s a vicious cycle because the more isolated Mari becomes, the angrier she gets. She feels betrayed and alone, but nobody’s there to save her. 

Mariaile isn’t after the ladybug and cat miraculous, but she is looking for an outlet. Her akumas are used to expel her angry emotions and sometimes get revenge on people who wronged her (read: Lila and Chloe). 

Le Paon starts to think he has an ally, but he learns very quickly that these akumas are not looking for an ally, they’re looking for an outlet. Instead of fighting the heroes with him, the akumas are fighting the heroes _and_ him. 

(Honestly Gabriel should have just taken the peacock miraculous off and taken a vacation, but he’s too stubborn, so instead of fighting one enemy he’s now fighting two)

So Marinette has an outlet, but her emotions are still getting the better of her, and it’s not until a group project that Adrien figures out something’s wrong with his old friend. Instead of the bubbly, positive person he’s used to, his friend is distant and angry. She hides her anger under a cold-front, but Adrien lives with Gabriel Agreste, so he can see right through her. He doesn’t do anything, but he does keep an eye on her.

Which leads to him realizing that whenever Lila says or does anything to Marinette, she leaves the room, and then a few seconds later an akuma appears. 

Our banana boy is oblivious, but come on. He’s not that dumb.

So Adrien connects the dots and realizes that something must have happened for his ex-partner to turn evil. 

Blah blah blah, Adrien now knows where Mariaile lives, and goes after her during the next attack, with Carapace and Amber distracting the akuma. He finds her in her bedroom, and is quick to surprise attack her. She tries to summon her akuma, but it’s distracted by the other two heroes, so she’s alone. 

Only here’s the thing: Marinette has the butterfly so she’s never been in the field before. She’s never had a reason to fight the heroes because she has other people to do it for her. 

Chat Noir pins down Mariaile and removes the butterfly broach. Nooroo comes flying out, and suddenly Marinette is underneath him, and she looks confused. 

(Later Amber and Carapace meet Chat Noir and give him the butterfly to cataclysm.)

You know how akuma victims can never remember what happened under the akuma’s influence? Yeah. Same goes for Mariaile. The broach comes off, and suddenly she can’t remember a thing from the time she first said “Dark Wings Rise.” 

But she does remember the _feelings_. 

Months of negative feelings hits her, but this time there’s no miraculous to make her angry, so instead she just feels sad and overwhelmed and _tired_. 

Chat Noir is surprised to find a crying Marinette in his arms, but hey. Whatever she needs to never turn to the dark side again. 

Her friends and family are surprised by the sudden change in the girl, but it was a welcome change. Chat and her tell everyone she was hit by something in the akuma attack and lost a few months worth of memories, but there’s gotta be some price to pay for what happened, so Mari takes it willingly. 

Chat takes the butterfly miraculous to the Guardian, but he just gives him the mouse in return and _guess who’s joining the miraculous party_ (Mari was still chosen to use a miraculous after all, it’s not her fault Fu gave her the easiest to corrupt).


	10. Guardian AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug told Chat Noir that Marinette was the guardian of the miraculous because she panicked. Whoops.

Ok so after all the temporary heroes are outed, Ladybug tells Chat Noir that they can work together to pick out the new heroes. Using context clues, Chat figures out that this means both of them will know the temp hero’s identity. Chat goes over every temporary hero and thinks of someone who would be a good replacement for them. He comes across Multimouse, and a thought occurs to him. He brings it up to Ladybug, who says no. Chat asks why Multimouse can’t be a hero again and Ladybug panics and says “bc shes the guardian.”

Let’s assume he missed the entire conversation that day when Fu passed over guardianship to LB. He asks a question about her civilian self, and Ladybug takes this opportunity to panic and tell him it’s Marinette. So Chat believes Mari is the new guardian. Great.

This would be a great cover, if Chat didn’t insist on Mari’s place being the meeting point for patrols with Ladybug. Ladybug points out that they can’t meet on this seemingly random civilian’s rooftop or Hawkmoth might get suspicious. Chat Noir relents, and LB takes a giant sigh of relief. Crisis averted.  
Or so she thought. 

She was so caught up in all her duties that she forgot that she cant be in two places at once. So an akuma attacks and they need help. LB is distracted, and Chat takes the time to rush to Mari’s house to get a miraculous. Whoops. 

Ladybug figures out what’s happening and rushes to her house to try and beat Chat. Aaaaand she’s too late. Chat is totally NOT snooping in Marinette’s room trying to find the miracle box, because that would be a MAJOR intrusion of his classmate’s privacy, but he needs a miraculous. LB lands, and he turns to her and expresses his panic because of all the days for Mari to be out of the house it had to be today. So Ladybug, remaining cool and collected on the outside (while screaming internally), goes over to where she hid the miracle box, telling Chat that Mari showed her where it was just in case she wasn’t home (Master Fu was old, so he was pretty much always home unless he was stalking the two teens). Chat is like “that’s reasonable,” and they grab the miraculous and head out to fight off the akuma. 

Usually, this would be the end of the story, but no. Because now Adrien has a new appreciation for Marinette, and is now confused and in awe at how his seemingly scatter-brained classmate obtained the miracle box. So he watches her. He was raised to be a sheltered sunshine child, so he thinks he’s being subtle, but he’s not. Alya and Nino notice his new obsession with everything Marinette does. Nino takes this as “he’s just being more aware of other people now that he’s exposed to more things,” but Alya takes it as “Adrien totally has a crush on Marinette.” And all the while Marinette is remaining oblivious to everything, thinking she did a wonderful job at keeping her identity a secret. 

(This may or may not lead to a reveal, but I’ll leave this here because there’s only so much of Alya’s plotting than I can take in one sitting)


	11. Run Away AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nooroo and Duusu run away from Gabriel and Nathalie and go to Marinette. This leads to the eventual take down of Gabriel Agreste, and therefore also Hawkmoth and Mayura.

I don’t know why, but this idea struck me and I felt the need to write it out. 

Ok so lets start with a fact: Gabriel Agreste is abusing a miraculous he has no right to use.

Another fact: Kwami’s cannot take the miraculous off their wielder unless given permission. 

Last fact: Gabriel has not given Nooroo permission, so Nooroo is trapped with a terrible man and his ignorant assistant. 

However there are three situations where the miraculous must come off. 

For starters, Gabriel has to shower at some point, right? And no way would he wear the miraculous in the shower, _right_? He also probably doesn’t wear it to sleep, although who knows just how deep the obsession and paranoia goes. And lastly, unless he sleeps in his suit (does the man even sleep?) and/or only wears the same outfit everyday (I mean come on, red pants? Really??), he would have to remove it to change clothes. 

So you have poor Nooroo who cannot remove the miraculous without permission. However, the rules say nothing about taking the miraculous while it’s not on the wielder. And Gabe has gotten sloppy because as far as he knows, Nooroo is terrified of leaving his master. 

(This is an AU so I can decide that Gabriel has no power over Nooroo when he’s not wearing the broach)

So one day Nooroo is chilling on Gabriel’s dresser while the man is in the shower, and Duusu flies in. Duusu persuades Nooroo to fly away with him and find the guardian. 

Now some background about our favorite peacock miraculous.

Duusu has been dormant in the vault behind Gabriel’s painting of his wife. However, when Nathalie was given the miraculous, he was summoned from his slumber, and now he’s tied to do her bidding. Duusu has now been freed, but instead of being used for good, he is used for evil. He doesn’t like that. He decides to change that. 

Fact: Duusu came here for a good time and is decidedly _not_ having a good time. 

Nathalie has Duusu for one day.

Same as the Gabriel problem, Nathalie has to take off the peacock broach eventually, so Duusu decides to rebel and fly away (Gabriel and Nathalie’s first problem was their hubris, but their second was always going to be their lack of knowledge because if they had known the kwami could take their own miraculous, they never would have taken them off). On his way out, he comes across Nooroo. 

Now we’re caught up. 

Before Duusu proved it was possible, Nooroo hadn’t even thought of flying away. Gabriel was a terrible man but a very good manipulator. The kwami truly believed he couldn’t escape. This had never been an issue before, so how would he know? He’s never had to escape from being abused (Trixx however? Of course she has experience. Plagg? There’s definitely been corrupted black cats. Even Tikki had her share of misuse. The butterfly though? It was used for making _champions_. Gabriel Agreste took the broach originally with good intentions, but the second his wife fell unconscious he was no longer the same good-willed man). 

So the two kwami’s make their escape. Fortunately, it’s almost time for Ladybug’s patrol. 

Again, this is an AU so I’m taking some creative freedoms. In this, Fu has already transferred guardianship to Ladybug, and she’s well on her way to being a great master of the miraculous. 

So blah blah blah, Ladybug goes swinging past these two kwami’s, who immediately dash after her. She eventually stops on top of the Eiffel Tower, and they rush up to greet her. At first, she thinks it’s a trick, but the two eventually convince her that they’re real. 

Yada yada, Ladybug introduces herself as the guardian, takes them to her bedroom, detransforms, they have a reunion with Tikki, great.

One problem. 

Nooroo has been in Gabriel’s possession for a while now. Gabriel was not a good master. Nooroo has been under Gabriel’s thumb for too long, and now he thinks that the guardian is going to punish him and keep him dormant in the miraculous. 

He doesn’t know the current guardian, though. 

If there’s one thing Marinette Dupain-Cheng is good at, it’s compassion and kindness. She takes one look at this quiet, shaking kwami and immediately scoops him up and kisses his forehead. She holds him close to her cheek and tells him it’s not his fault that Hawkmoth was a terrible man. She also tells him that he no longer has to be used for evil, and that he’s now free. 

The kwami breaks down, and immediately Duusu (who had literally been used once before quitting and running away, so he didn’t have _much_ trauma) and Tikki rush at him and smother him in hugs and reassurances. Marinette goes to the miracle box and invites all the other kwami’s to join the reunion (it’s a shame kwami cannot be caught on camera, because it was a cute scene that Marinette wanted to remember, but alas). 

Anyways. The main point of this AU is that Hawkie and Mayura suddenly disappeared overnight because Duusu was just like “lol nope” and dragged Nooroo with him. 

The next morning, Gabriel goes to grab the broach and promptly freaks out because it’s gone. There’s a knock on his door, and an equally panicked and slightly nervous Nathalie (how the heck was she going to tell her boss that she lost her miraculous on the _first day_?) walks in without a peacock pin on her suit. The two go through the security videos, but kwami’s cannot be caught on tape, so it’s just as if the miraculous disappeared overnight. The two go about the rest of their day restlessly, but trying to act like nothing’s wrong to avoid suspicion (they fail at subtly though, and even oblivious Adrien figures out something’s up). 

That night is Chat Noir’s time to patrol, but Ladybug decides to join him. She invites him to their usual meeting spot on the roof overlooking the Seine, and tells him about Hawkmoth and Mayura’s defeat. He’s overjoyed and she tells him that if he wants they can share their identities. He agrees, and there you go, Adrien and Marinette promptly freak out, and then laugh at their own stupidity because they were in a freaking love square with each other. 

The two decide not to reveal their identities to the world, but they do decide to keep patrols up because even though there’s no akumas, there is still crime. They do, however, give an interview to both Alya for the Ladyblog, and Nadja Chamack about the two villian’s defeat. Paris rejoices, and there’s suddenly a lot of people free to express their emotions once again (both LB and Chat patrol together for the next week because of the increase of crimes being committed). 

(Also you can bet Chat Noir’s banana hair that Mari wears the butterfly broach and Adrien the peacock pin so that Nooroo and Duusu can see the world. (And if they take the two on patrol to see the wonders of Paris at night, well, nobody has to know but them))

So the two heroes know each other’s identities. Great. I’m going to just let them be best friends before they decide to go anywhere else with their relationship because before anything they are _partners_. So they’re best friends. Alya and the rest of the class watch in confusion as overnight these two oblivious children suddenly went from shy and awkward to super close and joking around each other. Marinette would randomly ruffle Adrien’s hair; he would hug her from behind and spin her around as she called him strange nicknames; she would trip and he would catch her and carry her to her next class bridal style; he would whisper something in her ear that would make her laugh and swat him as he snickered. The entire day felt like the class had stepped into an alternate reality and _did Adrien just try to kiss Marinette’s hand and did she not let him?!_

So yeah. That’s it for that. I also imagine that because of the spell that kwami’s can’t say their wielder’s names (including previous ones), Nooroo and Duusu can’t say who Hawkmoth and Mayura were. But they can certainly give Mari hints, and she’s not Ladybug for nothing, so she figures it out.

Of course, there’s no way Marinette is gonna let Adrien live in that house, so she starts collective evidence because even if she cant prove he was a supervillain, she can prove that he has been _neglecting and emotionally abusing his son._

So bamf Mari takes an appearance and _utterly destroys_ Gabriel Agreste. She even asks celebrities she knows to give character studies to both give her credibility and kill any chance of Gabriel walking away without consequences. Mari wins because even though she can be scatter brained sometimes, she was passionate and thorough with this investigation. If Gabriel thought he could get away with terrorizing Paris and abusing his son, he was very very wrong. 

Surprise surprise, Mari won. Adrien got an emancipation after gaining access to his bank account, buying a small apartment near the Dupain-Cheng bakery, and starting work under Tom’s management. (For the first time since his mom went missing, Adrien was given positive parental interactions. The first time Tom referred to him as his son, Adrien cried.)

And now, what happened to Emilie? Well turns out, after the court case about him abusing his son got out, the police initiated a search of the Agreste mansion. They were very thorough, and discovered the hidden buttons on Mama Agreste’s painting. Lo and behold, some of those buttons led to a secret underground room, equipped with a large butterfly window, a ton of white butterflies, and a coffin-type-chamber with Emilie Agreste’s body. 

Sorry Gabriel, but this doesn’t look so good for you. Now an entire investigation is launched against the man. He is accused of murdering his wife and being Hawkmoth. 

...only Emilie Agreste is still _alive._

So they figure out she’s in some type of coma and send her to the hospital. Adrien gets word of this and totally breaks down into Mama Sabine’s arms. Mari goes to get her father and the four of them rush to the hospital. There, the adults talk to the nurse while the two kids go into the room. Mari holds Adrien as he breaks down again. Tikki suddenly floats in front of Marinette and lightly touches Emelie’s hand. She gasps and informs Marinette that this is no ordinary coma. 

It’s a _magical_ coma. 

One that the guardian can fix. 

And the current guardian is _Marinette._

So over the course of like a month, Mari learns how to heal and cure magical illnesses. Finally, she starts the process on the unconscious woman, and one week later, Emilie Agreste is in a normal coma instead of a magical one (you didn’t think it was going to be that easy, did you?). 

It takes a while, but Adrien gets better. Gabriel is sent to prison after Ladybug and Chat Noir testified against him (the butterfly lair wasn’t helping, though). Nathalie was also found guilty of having aided him, and is demanded to do a lot of community hours. Mama Agreste finally wakes up to find a new world where her son lives alone and her husband is in prison. Welp. 

Adrien is thrilled and almost demands she live with him. After everything happened with his father, he got ownership of not only the Agreste Masion, but also the Gabriel empire. He immediately sold the property after taking everything he wanted, and employed Gorilla to help him with his security, which the man immediately accepted because at least one adult figure in Adrien’s old life was there for him. 

Hey remember earlier when I said the point of this AU was to take down the bad guys by having Duusu and Nooroo run away? Scratch that. This AU is about making our sunshine child happy. I’m keeping the AU titled “Run Away AU,” but if you’ve made it this far you can know the true name of it is actually the “#Give Adrien Positive Figures In His Life 2020 AU.” 

Honestly though this AU has gotten away from me because there’s just so much stuff my brain is coming up with and I needed to type it all down before I exploded.


	12. Changed Motives AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette is akumatized, but she works with Hawkmoth to deal with Lila and improve his relationship with Adrien. Also an identity reveal AU.

Gabbygirl317 commented:  
“I have an idea for an au, it starts when the class betrays Mari for Lie-la. She gets super upset, happens to be in private when it really hits her what happened, and boom, akuma Mari. Only, idk if canon or fanon, I’ve seen fics where Halkmoth can read the akumas minds, so he finds out she’s lb. he remembers (barely) that she’s friends with Adrien, and has idea of using her passively as an akuma in order to get the black cat miraculous by tricking it out of Chat, and as a bonus, a spy on his son. So the transformation doesn’t happen, she just has an object that she hides. So now Hawkmoth is spending time in Maris head, so he grows attached to her, and he sees how Adrien hates his life, and he doesn’t want his son to hate him, so he starts spending more time with his son, and eventually he’s Hawkmoth in name only, has taken care of the Lila problem, and is close with Adrien again, and Mari becomes like a daughter to him.  
Overall, Mari’s kind personality and positive outlook end up turning the whole situation into a found family kinda thing”

Hon that comment’s basically the AU itself, I love it. Yes. Ok lets see. 

We’re gonna start with the fact that the end thing that throws Mari off the deep end is when Adrien berates Mari for yelling at Lila because Lila convinced Alya that Mari was planning on bullying her sisters or something. Adrien was talking all about the “high road” again, which Mari is used to at this point. 

In the end, the only thing stopping her from becoming an akuma is Tikki. So Mari gets home and breaks down, and she can hear Tikki’s voice, but she cant understand any of the words because she’s _panicking_. So she takes out the earrings and screams into her hands. At one point she realizes she’s on her knees in the middle of her bedroom, and I’m gonna say that there’s a stray needle on the floor in front of her, and she accidentally pricks her finger on it, leading her to picking it up, which is exactly the thing Hawkmoth decides to akumatize. 

Hawkmoth: Princess Justice. I am Hawk- wait.   
Hawkmoth.exe has stopped working.  
Hawkmoth: You’re Ladybug?!

And then Marinette’s sitting here being like 

Marinette: Uhhh no?

Which is so very convincing, thank you Marinette for your stellar performance. You truly are a master of lies. 

But anyways. Their conversation is a bit like

Hawkmoth: I knew you were young, but you’re a child!  
Marinette: Rude. Hey buddy, wasn’t there a point to akumatizing me? I’ve got homework to do.  
Hawkmoth: Oh yes, of course. As I was saying, I can give you the powers of- wait.  
Mari: What is it now?  
Hawkmoth: Adrien Agreste is the one who made you feel this way?  
Mari: Well yes, but I dont know how that’s relevant.   
Hawkmoth: Adrien Agreste has been bullying you?!Mari: I mean, technically no. He’s just enabling instead. Honestly it could be worse, so I’ll take what I can get.  
Hawkmoth: ...  
Hawkmoth: I think I have made an error.   
Mari: Lol youre telling me. You really should have picked any other job.  
Hawkmoth: No I mean with raising my son.  
Hawkmoth: Wait-  
Mari: Your what.

So Marinette is under the influence of an akuma, which means she’s not thinking straight, but she also has some common sense (like not outing herself as the Guardian or accepting Hawkmoth’s akuma without a fight- or at least a distraction). But come on. She can connect the dots. 

So Mari figures out who Hawkmoth is, so now they’re even. Only none of this really matters until they either find Chat Noir or figure out his identity. 

So Hawkmoth is like “I’ll make a deal with you,” and Marinette is immediately like “no get out of my head,” but Hawkie manages to stop her and tell her about how he wants to help with Adrien because “that’s his son.” 

And Mari has a bleeding heart, so she’s like “fine, but only if you let me be aware of everything and have self-control, and I keep all my memories of this afterwards.” And he’s like “deal.” 

So she slips the needle in her purse, along with the earrings, and starts her homework. 

Meanwhile, Gabriel Agreste detransforms to wait until tomorrow. 

The next day, Mari heads to school like normal, only she knows that someone is watching her every move. 

Her day seems normal to her, but to Hawkmoth, it is extremely taxing and eye-opening to what this girl and his son go through daily. He witnesses Lila Rossi dig her nails into his son’s arm and invade his personal space. He watches Marinette be shoved around and bullied because of Lila’s stories. He watches the teacher see all of this an do nothing. The classes continues like this until lunch. Once lunch is over, Marinette is called into the principals office. There, Hawkmoth witnesses Lila crying over her “ruined sketchbook” that “Marinette stole her designs” from. Hawkmoth witnesses Marinette get detention, and have to give Lila her sketchbook (which hits different when he’s also a designer and he knows how personal your designs can be). He watches as after the meeting, Lila rips up the sketchbook in the hallway and throws it away. 

He watches as Adrien is a witness to all of this and does nothing. 

So yeah, Gabriel is a little upset (read: very upset), and after Marinette gets back to class and sits in the back away from peering eyes, he tells her to talk to Adrien after class about talking to the principal on her behalf. Marinette sighs and agrees, but he can feel the disappointment in her already, which serves to make him more sad. 

Blah blah blah, classes end, and Mari goes up to talk to Adrien. They go to a private classroom and she asks him to do what Hawkie suggested. Adrien of course is like “I would if I could, but I know my father would pull me out of school in an instant if he knew I stirred trouble. Plus I’m pretty sure Lila works with him, so he probably wouldnt be too happy if I called her out.” And Hawkmoth can see the disappointment and sadness in his son’s expression, but he can also see the extreme loneliness and fear that his son has. 

Because of him.

And Hawkie is like _heck no._

So after Mari gets home and starts on her homework, Gabriel immediately has Nathalie cancel Adrien’s next 3 activities and decides he needs to spend time with his son because while he may want his wife back, his son needs him right now. 

So throughout the next week, Gabriel Agreste publicly fires Lila Rossi, spends more time with his son, talks to the principal about Lila’s lying and how _there’s no such thing as a lying disease what is wrong with you_ , and decides to meet with Marinette’s parents. 

Ok ok that last one seems a bit random, but honestly. Gabriel has been inside Marinette’s head. He knows her emotions. He feels what she feels at school, and that’s _not healthy_ for anyone. So he talks to her parents and explains the situation that his son told him about (which he never did, but they didn’t need to know that), and manages to convince them to sign Mari up to therapy that _he will pay for no dont worry about it I have money this literally wont make a dent._

So eventually Gabriel manages to make his son and Marinette’s lives better, but eventually Mari is like “yo, you’re gonna need to release me eventually,” and Gabriel’s like “oh yeah.” 

So he comes up with the plan to trick Chat Noir to get the ring, only before he can tell Mari about it, Marinette figures out Chat’s identity. 

It’s completely on accident! But one day she’s on her balcony at night talking to Hawkmoth, and she notices Chat Noir on his nightly patrol. Then she watches as the _stupid cat_ lands in an alleyway across the street and detransforms _right in front of her what the heck Chat!_

And at first she’s in shock, and Hawkmoth is very quiet because he’s also trying to process this, and then suddenly Mari lets off the most inhuman screech, which causes Chat Noir who is now _Adrien Agreste_ to look up and gasp as he realizes what just happened. And then he freaks out when Hawkmoth starts talking to Marinette, which makes a glowing, purple, butterfly shaped mask appear over her face. 

So Adrien transforms again and races towards Mari, and she’s internally panicking while also hearing Hawkmoth panic externally, and she’s nervous that Chat Noir is going to fight her now. 

And Chat Noir _who is Adrien freaking Agreste_ lands next to her and starts talking to her about fighting off Hawkmoth. And she can only sort of understand what he’s saying because in her head Hawkmoth is screaming about how he’s been fighting his own son and “of course it’s Adrien, who else knows so many puns.”

Eventually Hawkie calms down enough for Mari to think clearly, and now she is able to understand that Adrien thinks she’s being akumatized, and I mean, _technically_ he’s not wrong, but she’s also been akumatized for a week now sooooo.

She manages to calm down the panicking cat long enough to explain the situation to him, and they make an agreement to meet with Hawkmoth in person to talk this out since Mari know’s Hawkie’s identity, and Hawkmoth know’s hers, and they both know Chat’s. 

Chat picks up Mari and carries her to the location, where Hawkmoth is standing. The first thing that happens is Hawkmoth recalls the akuma. The second thing is Mari reaching in her purse to take out her earrings, putting them on, and transforming into Ladybug (cue Chat Noir absolutely freaking out because holy guacamole _Marinette?! You’re Ladybug?!_ ). 

And the third thing to happen is Marinette, aka _Ladybug_ , greeting Hawkmoth with “Agreste.” 

And then Chat Noir sits down, puts his head in his hands, and sits there motionless for five minutes. 

When he finishes his existential crisis of the week, he stands up, brushes away tears that had escaped, and looked at his father emotionlessly. Ladybug takes this as a sign to start their “meeting.”

Hawkmoth explains his reasoning for this entire thing, which of course Chat understands, and Ladybug grudgingly concedes to (she can understand where he’s coming from even if he used the wrong methods to do it). Ladybug then asks if she can see Emilie Agreste. Even though they should be on edge, Hawkmoth and Ladybug are unusually calm about the entire thing because they’ve shared thoughts and emotions for days. They have an understanding of each other now. 

So anyways. In the end, Ladybug is able to heal Mama Agreste because this is an AU so what I say goes, and Adrien has his mom back. Of course, Gabriel gives the butterfly and peacock miraculous to LB, who tells him that she wont take him to the police as long as he donates to many akuma relief programs and spends more time with his son and actually cares for him.

(To conclude, Adrien not only has his mother back, but also his father. Also, Gabriel might sometimes go to Marinette for advice with both parenting and designing, but who’s gonna tell?) 

(In the end, it’s Marinette who takes over the Gabriel company, not Adrien.)


	13. Forgotten AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette and Adrien know each other’s identities outside of the mask. When they’re Ladybug and Chat Noir? Different story.

Thanks to the miraculous magic, the heroes don’t know who each other are. 

When they’re civilians, however, different story. 

The two know each other’s identities, but forget the second they suit up. 

Hmmm this makes things interesting. Ok so lets assume there was no “grand reveal,” and instead, after Stoneheart (the second time) Ladybug was just like “ok I know our kwami’s don’t want us to share our identities, but that’s stupid because we’re both kids and we shouldn’t be doing this in the first place, so what do they know.” And of course, Chat Noir is like “yes yes, I agree. Plagg is very annoying and he thinks that camembert is the best thing ever, so obviously he’s delusional.” 

So, reveal. They know who each other are. Plagg is nonchalant about the entire thing, telling Adrien he just wants cheese. Tikki is absolutely _freaking out_ because Marinette you had _one job._

Marinette is like “oh hey I recognize you,” while Adrien is like “I have never seen you before in my life but I would love to be your best friend.” 

So yeah. Adrien goes to school for the first time, and look at that. He already has an ally. Chloe is overjoyed that her absolute _favorite person_ who just _adores_ her is coming to her school (Sabrina: “who am I to you”). Everyone in the class is like _ugh_. Anyone who likes Chloe surely isn’t a person worth knowing. 

Then Marinette trips into the classroom because its Marinette, and her eyes meet Adrien and both of their faces light up. Adrien practically shoves Chloe off him to go to Mari, and she meets him halfway in a quick hug. They chat like old friends (even though they’ve only known each other for a few hours, but they’ve fought as superheroes together. They’re practically soulmates now). The class is like _oh_. Anyone who likes Marinette and is liked in return is _definitely_ a person worth knowing. 

(Alya and Adrien totally bond and rant over how amazing Ladybug is while Mari blushes into her hands. Then they change it somehow to how amazing Mari is while she’s basically dying of blood rushing to her face.)

So everything still happens, except Mari doesn’t believe Adrien is the one who put gum on her seat, and the umbrella scene never happens, but it’s ok because we don’t need it to be romantic for them to be happy. So yeah. All’s great until Stoneheart part 2. Then Adrien and Mari head towards the danger, but not before transforming. 

Not before forgetting. 

Everything is the same as the show. Everything still happens as if they didn’t know each other’s identities, which means Chat Noir totally still falls for Ladybug. 

The akuma is purified, and the heroes go their own ways, thinking their identities are safe. They detransform and suddenly _everything comes flooding back._

Adrien immediately calls Mari and is like “Uhhhh what just happened?” And she responds equally confused. They meet up and their Kwami’s tell them about the safety feature the miraculous have that protects their identities while transformed. 

You know what? This would be fun if they also forget anything that relates to their civilian identities. So all those times where they pretend to not know their classmates or parent’s names? They actually don’t know. 

Oooo and then the horror when Adrien realizes his superhero self has absolutely fallen in love with Ladybug and _no stop laughing Marinette this is embarrassing_. 

Also just imagine the lectures Mari gives him when Chat Noir sacrifices himself for her again and again. The class would watch in confusion as sweet Marinette walked up to a very scared Adrien who is definitely _not_ hiding behind Nino, and just swat the back of his head with no remorse. 

You can best believe this Adrien and Marinette are the equivalent of the Gordon Ramsey meme where Mari puts Adrien’s head between two slices of bread (“what are you?” “An idiot sandwich”). 

On the plus side, though, this Marinette doesn’t have a massive dumpster fire crush on Adrien because this is the same person who makes cat puns and has a freaking bell on his leather suit. Unfortunately, Chat Noir has no idea who she is, so there’s no flirting with her while in the suit. 

HOWEVER

There once had to be an evillustrator, right? Nathaniel getting akumatized is the turning point in many of my AU’s. So anyways. 

Ladybug is like “I don’t remember why, but I know I have plans tonight, so I can’t be there. Help this cute girl.” And Chat is like “I don’t know who that is, but sure.”

And Marinette knows _exactly_ who Chat Noir is, but she doesn’t say anything because it’s not like he’s gonna remember (they had tried before, but the magic prevents them from remembering for longer than two seconds), so they go through the motions as normal. Then afterwards Mari teases Adrien because _why the heck were you showing off? You even flexed what the heck Adrien you’re such a nerd._

And then we have to make it even somehow so let’s assume that Adrien is in danger for some reason, and Ladybug saves him, and they totally have a moment and Ladybug starts to act like Marinette in the show and suddenly the cool, calm Ladybug has lost all common sense and is head over heels for Adrien Agreste (until she forgets all about him the next time she transforms, but that doesn’t matter since her civilian self will remember how embarrassing she was). 

Afterwards she detransforms and Adrien calls her and is like “is there something you want to tell me?” And she’s like “no shut up” because there’s no way her confident superheroine self had a schoolgirl crush on her best friend (not that Ladybug knows who he is). 

But I believe 100% that Chat Noir still goes to Marinette’s balcony sometimes because she tries to catch his attention whenever he’s on patrol and he acts like he’s the coolest cat out there, and she’s like “he’s such a dork” and can’t take him seriously for like 3 days afterwards. 

Anyways I don’t remember the point of this AU. Was there a point? I guess it’s about the equal embarrassment the two go through whenever they detransform and are teased by the other because their alter-egos don’t know what they’re doing. 

(Bonus:

Ladybug tells Chat Noir about her belief that Hawkmoth is Gabriel Agreste, and he doesn’t say no because for all that he knows, Gabriel Agreste is a rich man that doesn’t know him. Even after Gabriel is akumatized, they don’t stop looking into him because nothing’s impossible with magic. 

On another note, Marinette can believe it, but Adrien can’t. He refuses to agree that his father could be the man terrorizing Paris.)


	14. Number AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A number is on your wrist for the number of people you’ve ever saved in your lifetime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m probably going to finish this at chapter 15 because I don’t want this to be a never ending story. However I’ll make it part of a series and start a new one. Should I try and make a theme for the new one? Like an AU with a ton of baby AUs in it? Idk, I’ll think about it.

In this universe, a number representing the amount of people you’ve saved is marked on your wrist. 

Most people have only a one or two. Some have zero. Some depend on your job. Firefighters and police usually have 20-50, if not a hundred. Some people have low numbers by saving themselves, because saving yourself can be the hardest thing to do sometimes. 

People in Paris are a little different. 

For your average civilian, you have one for every person you’ve saved from being akumatized or their potential victims. You have some for people you saved from dying by distracting the akuma. You have one every time you push someone out of the way or help hide people from akumas.

Paris’s heroes have even more.

Saving one person multiple times counts as more than one save, and therefore, means your number is higher. 

Rena Rouge and Carapace have hundreds. Queen Bee has a couple hundred. Even the small temporary heroes have a few dozen. 

Viperion has hundreds from his different travels through specific spots in time. Even if those realities technically never happened, his body still went through them, and therefore he saved those people from dying many times. 

Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s number is different from everyone else’s. 

While Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir only has under three million, Marinette as Ladybug has over seven billion. 

After all, Chat Blanc never happened in people’s memories, but Ladybug saved them when she prevented that reality from happening. There’s 7.8 billion on the planet. Every single one of them died in that reality. You also have the amount of times akumas have killed almost everyone in Paris, like Syren (there’s roughly 2 million people living in Paris). Adding that number to the lives she saves daily from akumas, and you have a very, very large number. 

People usually show their wrists with pride because saving many people is something to be proud of. Some people cover their wrists because while having low or high numbers isn’t anything to be ashamed about, they still don’t like being judged by the number. 

Mrs. Bustier’s class has a few students who cover their wrists.

Lila Rossi is one of them. She tells the class it’s because she’s saved too many people and she doesn’t want to make anyone feel bad with their lower numbers, but the real reason is because her number is zero. 

Adrien Agreste is another one. He doesn’t tell anyone why he covers his wrist, but they all believe it’s because he’s self-concious about the number. The real reason is that he doesn’t know how to explain how the number is so big without revealing his identity. 

Marinette Dupain-Cheng is the last person who covers her wrist. She has always been quiet about her number, and has never pestered anybody about theirs, so they all respect her wishes to keep quiet. (Lila Rossi makes up a lie that Marinette’s number is zero, which starts nasty conversations and leads to the class ignoring Mari, but that’s a story for later.)

(Marinette Dupain-Cheng has always covered her wrist, so one day when Lila Rossi rips off the ribbon hiding her number from view, the entire class is shocked to silence. Lila spins a tale about how Marinette is faking her number, but it’s too hard to fake the mark, plus why would she fake her number if she didn’t want it revealed in the first place?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the life of me I could not figure out why this AU is my most popular one. Like,,, huh?? This one was a 20 minute fever dream I had at 1am, but the one I spent 3 hours on got like 2 likes?? I am??? Confused?? 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you like this little AU idea. I’m willing to continue it if people want clarification. 2 people on tumblr have already asked for permission to write stories with this, so as soon as they’ve sent me the links I will update this note and put them here. Or if you want to have your own try with this, tell me and I’ll post the link! Just give me credit for the idea ;)


	15. Bonus Powers AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ladybug miraculous has special power-ups for each new wielder.

So the Ladybug miraculous is the most powerful, and most dangerous. Certain sayings can make the Ladybug miraculous give you special powers. Each user is different, though, so every new Ladybug never knows their sayings. 

One day Marinette, as Ladybug, is fighting your usual akuma, when she says something she’s never said before when suited up. She had just dropped her lucky charm, which was a formal suit, leading her to say, “oh no I dropped the Spotted Suit.” 

And suddenly ladybugs shot around her, and when they disappeared, she was in a different suit. Her new suit looked the same as her original one, but she had on black knee-high boots, and her fingers to her elbows were black. Her hair was also flowing down from a high ponytail, and there was a shell on her back that resembled ladybug wings. 

(Chat Noir may or may not have tripped and face-planted after seeing this)

After the akuma is defeated, Mari asks Tikki about the new suit, and Tikki explains that each ladybug has their own special power-ups, which they discover as time goes on. The miraculous will influence you to somehow subconsciously say the “magic words” whenever you’re ready for the power-up. In this case, it was Marinette’s Lucky Charm that influenced her to say the new power-up. 

A few months later, her and Chat Noir are facing an akuma at noon. After Ladybug cleanses the akuma, her and Chat sit on the Eiffel Tower for a few minutes (after recharging, of course) because it’s a nice day, and neither have anywhere to be. Chat Noir says something like “it’s nice weather to hang out in the park. Maybe we can look at the clovers.”

And Ladybug jokingly replies, “With my ladybug luck, maybe I’ll find a Four Leaf Clover.”

And y’all know what the random capitalization means, a new power-up!

So the two heroes suddenly find themselves staring at a red, spotted four leaf clover that just fell onto Ladybug’s lap. She picks it up, remembering what Tikki said about random power-ups, so she looks around for something to do with it. Nothing seems obvious. 

And then Chat falls off the Eiffel Tower. 

Ladybug reacts quickly and manages to catch his arm with her yo-yo, and after brining him up, she realizes what this new power-up does. 

“I think this clover gives me luck while making everyone around me have very bad luck.” 

Chat tilted his head. “Why do you say that?”

Ladybug gave him a look. “Because you fell off the Eiffel Tower.” At his confused nod, she elaborated. “Chat, you fell off while you were sitting down. How did that even happen?” 

Recognition shown in her partners eyes as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not sure. One second I was sitting next to you, and the next I was falling.” 

And that was that. 

Along the next few months, Ladybug gained two new power-ups. Tikki explained that the fifth and last power-up would come when she had the miraculous for two years, so she had to wait a while, but it’s okay. Until then she had four new powers to learn how to use.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand that’s a wrap on this AU collection. I’m thinking of doing a different collection where all the AU’s are connected, but who knows. Maybe I’ll just make another one of these. 
> 
> I’m currently working on a story for a different fandom, plus I have classes starting back up, so we’ll see what happens next. If I told you I was working on an AU based on your ideas, I am 100% working on those too, but I’m still deciding where to post them. Now that I’m back from winter break I’ll be writing more :)

**Author's Note:**

> If anybody wants me to add more to an AU, or has a request, I’m willing to continue them. 
> 
> These are also posted on my tumblr “elizabeths-rambles” :)


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